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Weekly fishing report
2007 FALL TROUT STOCKING UPDATE
• Lack of rainfall continues to affect the fall troutstocking schedule. No
stockings occured in western CTthis week. In eastern CT, trout stocking did
begin onMonday, although the schedule was altered to includemore lakes &
ponds, and fewer rivers. Rogers Lake andthe Day Pond, Mohegan Park Pond and
Valley Falls ParkPond Trout Parks were all stocked this week. Threerivers
with flows still suitable for trout, theHammonasset (including the TMA),
Scantic and ShetucketRivers were also stocked.
• Anglers are reminded that flows in many areas arewell below typical levels
and that significant amountsof precipitation will be required to
improveconditions statewide. Should these drought-likeconditions continue,
the fall trout stocking scheduleswill be subject to numerous additional
changes.Further delays in stocking some rivers & streams arepossible, some
areas may not be stocked at all, and itis likely that some fish originally
scheduled forrivers/streams will be redirected to lakes, ponds andTrout Park
ponds.
Rivers & streams - Flows throughout the statecontinue to be very low. When
fishing theseconditions, light line and leaders should work best.Northeastern
CT is especially hard hit, with extremelylow flows on many rivers and streams
including theWillimantic, Natchaug, Fenton, Yantic and QuinebaugRivers. Good
reports from the West Branch Farmington(many large browns), Farmington,
Housatonic,Naugatuck, Shetucket and Norwalk Rivers.
Farmington River – Trout fishing is good. Morning WestBranch water
temperatures remain in the mid 60's °F.West Branch flows remain clear and low
(currentlyabout 95 cfs from Hogback and an additional 7 cfs fromthe Still
River). Unless significant rain occurs,expect flows to be further reduced
next week toapproximately 50 cfs. Successful patterns includeIsonychia
(#12-14, fast water, afternoon/evening),Blue Wing Olives (#20-28, mid-late
afternoon),Cahills/Summer Stenonema (#18-20), Caddis (tan #14-18,all day;
green #22-26, evening; summer pupa #18-20morning), Midges (#22-32, morning),
Tricos (Rivertonarea, #24-28), Black Ants (#16-18, mid day in fastwater),
Black Beetles (#16-18, mid day), Flying Ants(#18-22, mid day, when
windy/humid) and Stone Hopper(#10-12, mid day).
Housatonic River - Trout fishing remains good. Withthe warmer weather,
temperatures have increased to thelow 60's °F (mornings in the TMA). Flows
are at verylow levels, currently 105 cfs at Falls Village and 175cfs at
Gaylordsville. Hatches/patterns include BlueWing Olive (#18-26, early
morning; spinner fall inevening), Isonychia (#10-12 evening),
Cahills/SummerStenonema (#12-14), and Black caddis (#16, earlymorning &
evening), Black/Cinnamon Ants (#14-18, midday in fast water), Black Beetles
(#14-18, mid day),Stone Hopper (#8-10, mid day) and Flying Ants (#16-18,mid
day, when windy/humid). Try nymphing the pockets,deeper riffles and pool
heads. Streamers will producea mixed bag of trout and smallmouth bass.
Lakes & Ponds – Good early fall trout fishing reportedfrom Lake
Wononscopomuc, Highland Lake and West HillPond. Mixed reports from East Twin
Lake and Long Pond.
BASS fishing is variable. Areas to try for LARGEMOUTHBASS include Scoville
Reservoir, Moodus Reservoir,Bashan, Candlewood, Quonnipaug, Cedar,
Wintergreen,Beseck, Pickerel and Bolton Lakes, Messerschmidt Pond,Aspinook
Pond, and Squantz pond. SMALLMOUTH BASSfishing is picking up, try Coventry,
Highland andCandlewood Lakes. Some good river smallie action canbe found on
the Housatonic during warmer afternoons.NORTHERN PIKE fishing is reported to
be very good.Pike are showing up in Lake Lillinonah, Bantam Lake,Winchester
Lake. Fall WALLEYE action is reported tobe good. Areas to try include Lake
Saltonstall andSquantz Pond (a 10.0 lb walleye among recent catches).Anglers
can expect excellent action later this fall,also remember, bad weather means
good walleye fishing.YELLOW PERCH action reported from Candlewood and
TylerLakes.
Connecticut River – BLACK CRAPPIE (20 fish for oneangler) are providing some
good fall fishing(excellent Wethersfield Cove action on small shiners).Some
STRIPED BASS action is reported in coves and inthe lower river (try after
dark). NORTHERN PIKEfishing is reported as good. Best action is
fromWethersfield Cove and the Chapmans Pond/Salmon RiverCove/Haddam Meadows
area. LARGEMOUTH BASS fishing hasbeen slow. Some SMALLMOUTH BASS action can
be found inthe Enfield area. Fall CATFISH action is fair. Anglersshould try
cut bait or chunks in the deeper holes andon the outside edges of the river.
NOTICES:
Fishing
• Hop Brook Lake has been closed until further noticedue to a possible
"toxic-alga bloom". Please call theUSACE at 203-729-8840 for the current
status.
Drawdowns
• A three-foot drawdown of Lake Housatonic iscurrently scheduled for the
weekend of September 29th& 30th.
MARINE FISHING REPORT
Water temperatures in Long Island Sound (LIS) remainsin the upper 60's °F.
Check out the following web sitefor more detailed water temperatures and
marineboating conditions: www.ndbc.noaa.gov.
Special Note: The tautog (blackfish) recreationalfishing season reopened
September 22nd and runsthrough December 13th.
STRIPED BASS fishing remains good and will even getbetter as the fall season
progresses. Striper spotsinclude the Watch Hill reefs, south side of
FishersIsland off Wilderness Point, Ram Island Reef inFishers Island, the
Race, the Sluiceway, Plum Gut,Pigeon Rip (just north of Plum Island),
HarknessMemorial State Park, Bartlett Reef, Black Point,Hatchett Reef, Long
Sand Shoal, Southwest Reef,Sixmile Reef, Falkner Island area, the reefs
offBranford, Milford Harbor-Charles Island area includingSilver Sands State
Park, Stratford Shoal/Middle Groundarea, Bridgeport Harbor, and the Norwalk
Islands.BLUEFISH fishing remains good to excellent in theRace, Plum Gut,
Thames River, Harkness Memorial StatePark, Pigeon Rip, Bartlett Reef,
Hatchett Reef,Connecticut River from the Baldwin (I-95) Bridge tothe
breakwaters, Long Sand Shoal, Sixmile Reef,Southwest Reef, Falkner Island
area to the reefs offBranford, New Haven Harbor, Silver Sands State
Park,Stratford Shoal/Middle Ground area, Penfield Reef,Norwalk Islands and
Stamford Harbor. Scup fishing remains good on the local reefs with
fishmeasuring 16 inches in length being reported.
HICKORY SHAD fishing is good the Mystic River, NianticRiver between Rte. 156
and the railroad bridge, andthe lower Connecticut River (from Essex down to
thebreakwaters) including DEP Marine Headquarters fishingpier.
BLACK SEA BASS and TAUTOG can be caught off the majorreef areas and rock
piles. Huge blackfish of over10lbs. were reported this past week!
ATLANTIC BONITO and LITTLE TUNNY are hit or miss inLIS. Best bets are around
the Pine Island area,Millstone Point to Black Point, Hatchett Reef,
SixmileReef, Charles Island area to Milford Point and aroundthe Norwalk
Islands.
PEANUT BUNKER can be seen breaking the surface intidal rivers, harbors and
coves all along thecoastline.
BLUE CRABBING remains excellent.
For regulation updates, please visit www.ct.gov/dep/fishing. |
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